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How’s your book going? Your third-quarter reflection

Three-quarters of the way through the year, it’s just 12 weeks before the Christmas week and the whirl into the next year: it’s time to pause and reflect on your book’s progress, and decide how to spend the next 12 weeks. At this time of the year, it’s easy to feel like “the year is almost over, it’s too late to try now” – beware that kind of calendar addiction! You can do a lot in 12 weeks, even if you haven’t started yet or are feeling behind. Scroll down to “What can you do in 12 weeks?” for some ideas. Why not enter the new year in midstream of your book, instead of with another resolution for the future?

What’s gone well in the last three months? What are you pleased with? What did you discover you’re good at?

Ahh…

What are you disappointed about? What did you hope to do that didn’t happen? What have you struggled with?

Lessons

Look at the Yay! and the Ahh… What lessons can you draw from those? When things went well, what helped? How can you shape things to repeat that? When things went badly, what hindered? How can you shape things to avoid that or work around it?

Next step

Look at where you are now in your book plans. Look at your overall year’s plan or goal. What do you want to do in the next three months? Map out your next step(s) and break them down into the next 12 weeks. Use this planning energy to book your writing time into your calendar and clear space for it, then when it comes to the actual writing, focus on the process more than the goals.